


Runners, Wheelchairs and Winners

by DaughterOfDanu



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:29:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfDanu/pseuds/DaughterOfDanu
Summary: Fang and Lightning spend a little time together.
Relationships: Lightning/Oerba Yun Fang
Kudos: 22





	Runners, Wheelchairs and Winners

**Author's Note:**

> Better late than never! Here is a late Valentine's snippet for all of you from Arms of a Stranger.

Fang sat in the wheelchair rubbing her sore legs. The brunette had been anxious to do as much as her body would physically allow her, unfortunately, what the body could do and what the mind wanted were often opposing forces. It was challenging at times to not feel disgusted with her progress and with herself. And staring at these legs that looked like bony twigs was rather discouraging. 

She had no idea that it was going to take so long to recuperate from a car accident, but if she were honest with herself, the physical injuries were a nice jog through the park compared to the emotional. For the first time in a long time, she’d been physically forced to sit still and as a result, all the bullshit in her life festered like an infected wound. It was as if the bats in the belfry were loose and boy had they had a time of making a mess out of her emotionally and then the beast within was set loose upon the world.

In retrospect, she’d been lucky. Fang couldn’t imagine going through this in her old age, where she could have been trapped within her own mind from the conditions of dementia or Alzheimers. She’d been blessed with an incident that had changed her life and her way of thinking. Thank the Creator, the Great Spirit in the sky for allowing her this trial to wake her up. But, that still didn’t mean she didn’t have her tantrums and setbacks from therapy. She was tired of this damn chair!

“Fang, are you brooding again?”

A smile lit the brunette’s face at the sound of the familiar voice.

“If it isn’t Roadrunner! Have you come to set me through my paces today?” 

Fang wheeled her chair around to look at the exasperated look on the resident’s face. Hidden beneath that facade though was a smile that was struggling to stay hidden. 

“How about a spin around the block, Speedy?”

“I have a name Fang. I don’t know why you insist on all these nicknames.”

“Aw, come on,  _ Lightning _ . It will be fun, a spin around the block. I’m sure they won’t miss a chair. Come on, how about it. Race me?”

An eyebrow quirked, looking over the brunette sitting in her chair. She could see the physical exhaustion in the slight tremble of Fang’s legs and the dark circles under her eyes. The woman did not know the meaning of sitting still. It was a marked improvement, but still.

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

Fang whistled low.

“Oh, Light, are you challenging a distance runner? If you’re talking endurance, I’ve got that in spades.”

The comment, as innocent as it was, caused Claire to blush. And god forbid the brunette notice, because if she did, then she’d go in for the kill.

“Speaking of endurance….”

“Okay, that’s enough, clearly you’ve been left in her alone by yourself for too long. Your brain is rotting.”

“Hey! Not funny, Speedy!”

“Neither is that mouth of yours.”

Fang fell silent, there were still some eggshells that the two were delicately trying to walk around without breaking more. It wasn’t good for the brunette’s recovery and it certainly didn’t bode well for the beginnings of their newly developing relationship. The brunette really hadn’t said anything wrong, but fear could be a powerful enemy when it was allowed control. Taking pity on her girlfriend, Claire closed the distance and knelt down beside her, surprising the wheelchair bound woman with a gentle kiss.

“The therapist told me you were done for the day. I figured it would be nice to pick you up myself so we could spend some time together.”

Claire could not help the smile on her face, Fang’s cheeks were red. Breaking down societal dogma and truths about relationships could take time. 

“Still not used to kissing a woman you have feelings for, let alone dating her?”

“I…”

Fang took a moment to clear her dazed mind.

“No, damn it. You take my breath away, every time you do that.”

“If it’s any consolation, you do the same to me,” Claire whispered.

“So, you still want to race around the block? I can see if April has a chair I can borrow?”

“You’d seriously race me around the block?” Fang asked.

Fang looked down at her trembling limbs and cursed silently.

“As much as I’d like too, between grief from you and April, I’ll pass.”

Claire kissed the side of Fang’s cheek.

“Good girl.”

The remark earned her a glare from the brunette, a glare that didn’t even register in Claire’s thoughts.

“So, a stroll around the park it is. How convenient that your physical therapist lives right outside of a park.” 

“Yeah, convenient indeed. I’m sure it’s to motivate us to move faster so the birds don’t crap on your head.” 

Claire shook her head as she pushed Fang toward the exit. April, Fang’s therapist was already starting a session with another client.

“Thank you April, Ms. moody says see you in two days.” Claire laughed.

“Hey, I can speak for myself! Goodbye, April. If I don’t see you in two days, call the cops! I’m sure Speedy has killed me and buried my corpse in the backyard!”

April laughed and waved the two off as she received strange looks from her current client. Those two were a perfect match for each other and it was a good thing too. The therapist didn’t think anyone else would be able to survive either one of them.

Fang leaned back into the chair and placed her sunglasses on her face. It would be tempting to fall asleep with the warmth of the sun beaming down and as tired as her body felt. Not to mention that despite the few hiccups in their budding relationship, she was at peace for the first time in a long while. Besides, she smirked to herself, how many people had a beautiful woman pushing them around in a wheelchair? 

“How are the legs?”

“Annoying little twigs, other than that, they’re great.”

“No pain today?”

“No, just a bit tired.”

Claire stopped and set the brake on the wheelchair before coming around and kneeling in front of Fang.

“Would you rather skip the park and head home?”

“No, love. I’m enjoying my time with you. It’s not often you have a day that we can spend together like this.”

Claire ran her hands along the outside of Fang’s thighs, grinning a little at the shiver that ran through the brunette’s body. The former marathon runner tilted her head down and peered at her girlfriend over the tops of her sunglasses.

“And you call me a terrible tease.”

“As much as I’d like to take credit for that, I actually wanted to help try and calm your muscles.”

Fang’s eyes grew as she arched a brow.

“By touching me like that?!”

Claire shook her head and laughed. 

“Yes. I really didn’t mean to tease.”

Fang took hold of both of Claire’s hands, which still happened to be placed on top of the brunette’s thighs.

“Let me tell you this again, Ms. Resident Orthopedic Surgeon in Training! Every time you touch me, it’s like this. Every time, I’m not kidding and honestly, I don’t ever want it to stop.”

Claire leaned in and kissed Fang fully on the mouth. Expecting the kiss this time, the brunette was able to respond in kind. When the two women mutually if not reluctantly pulled away, Fang felt a little light-headed.

“And just for the record, I’ve seen those legs since the moment of the accident, they aren’t as bad as your mind is letting them on to be,” Claire reassured.

“Says the beautiful woman with one bionic leg.”

Claire laughed, as she reached up and caressed Fang’s face. For the life of her, she could not stop staring into those green eyes. There was so much life there, swimming in those gradients of green. Since the moment she realized she was in love with the stubborn thick headed brunette, Claire could never get enough of just gazing into those eyes. 

“Is this the stage where the brain says we’re insane?”

Claire blinked, realizing she was staring again and all she could find herself doing, was responding with her own stupid grin.

“Something like that.”

“It has to be insanity,” Fang whispered.

“Because I just can’t see myself sharing life with anyone else.”

To say the comment earned the brunette another kiss would be like saying the sun never shines. Was the brunette a tease, did she like to see how much she could push Claire into a fit of romantic frustration or frustration period? Yes, you bet your running shoes she would, but that didn’t make Fang a person that liked to blatantly toss out compliments or flattery. 

If anything, Fang was always genuine and sincere, and blunt to a brutal degree. So much so, that it nearly cost them the beginnings of this budding romance and strange love affair. But the honesty in her feelings had helped them make huge leaps and bounds on a personal level that they were both just really starting to see. 

Feelings were a strange beast, and when they were out of control, it was the worst kind of ugly in a person you can imagine. And Fang would be the first to admit that she had shown her worst parts, especially to Claire. When the young resident pulled back, the brunette was trying her best to blink away the unshed tears.

“Fang, what’s wrong?” the startled woman asked.

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I... I just realized that this race I’ve been running all my life, the race I’ve been trying to win. I was already standing in the winner’s circle. It just took you to show me.”


End file.
